Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 17, 1991 TAG: 9103170117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Medium
With 1:13 left in an NCAA Tournament second-round game Saturday against Temple, Richmond's Connolly fouled out.
To a standing ovation.
A crowd of 13,386 stood to applaud a 6-foot-5, 230-pound senior who averages eight points and five rebounds.
To applaud a team captain who doesn't even start.
And to recognize a guy who epitomizes the best that college sports can be.
Connolly is slow and short for an inside man. He can't jump. But nobody in the NCAA Tournament will play any harder, and the Cole Field House crowd understood just what he had meant to the Cinderella Spiders.
Connolly, who lives in nearby Frederick, Md., scored 14 points, had seven rebounds and five assists - all above his norm - in the stunning upset of second-seeded Syracuse on Thursday.
In the 77-64 loss to taller, stronger Temple in his career finale, Connolly hustled all over the place, battled 7-1 Donald Hodge inside and had 12 points and five rebounds.
But Connolly's greatest contribution to this team came much earlier, when the Spiders were struggling.
The team was 6-7, with three straight home losses in Colonial Athletic Association games, and as the lone senior on a rebuilding team, Connolly called a team meeting.
Understand that coming out of Thomas Johnson High School, Connolly's lone college offer was from Shepherd, an NAIA school in West Virginia. After two years, during which he averaged 24 points as a sophomore, he transferred to Richmond.
Last year, he played a bit role as the Spiders, won the conference tournament.
Connolly was a starter as a senior, but the team struggled, losing by 45 points to Georgia.
After the third league loss, he called a team meeting.
"We just wanted to talk among each other," said the sports science major who likely will become a coach. "You just look at the banners in Robins Center, all those trips to the NCAA and NIT.
"I told the players, `I don't think it's the system or the coaches. It's just us.' "
At the same time, Richmond coach Dick Tarrant decided to make Connolly his sixth man.
"I know it's unusual, having your captain coming off the bench, but Terry plays so hard he can't play 40 minutes. He's effective playing 20 to 25. And he gave us that spark," Tarrant said.
Your basic blue-collar player, Connolly accepted his new role. His minutes dropped drastically, 10 at American, 12 against George Mason in the league championship game.
But the Spiders won. They won 16 of their next 18 before going out against Temple.
That never would have happened if Connolly had sulked, as many seniors would.
Against Temple, he and 6-5 Kenny Wood had to work inside against a Temple front line that is 7-1, 6-9 and 6-8. Richmond's two centers didn't get a basket.
But the Spiders trailed 58-54 with less than five minutes to play and Wood got poked in the eye, forced to leave the game for good. It was over for Richmond after that.
Connolly scored the next five points for Richmond, a 3-pointer and two free throws. It was 66-62, but Temple then made 11 of 14 free throws and it was over.
"We gave it the old college try," Connolly said. "They had so much firepower. We did the best we could, but we're not going to stop players like that."
He tried his hardest, however, and when he got his fifth foul, and it was over, the cheering echoed from Cole's rafters.
Tarrant figures he knows what Connolly's future holds.
"You like to have captains like that, but they're hard to find," the coach said. "Every team should have a Terry Connolly. He's going to reach out and touch a lot of people."
by CNB